Ok, here is mine:

No disposable diapers (except for nighttime)
No disposable wipes
No disposable tampons
No disposable Sanitary Napkins
No disposable toilet paper (for myself and my son)
No disposable tissue paper
No disposable napkins
No disposable paper towels
No disposable plates
No disposable silverware
No disposable cups

The things I would like to eliminate are:

No aluminum foil, No plastic wrap, No bandaids (but I'm not sure how I could do that one), No Q-tips (not sure about that one either).

Go ahead and list your "No disposables", I'm sure there are more ways I could improve.

Wow. That's an impressive list! Although I'm a little perplexed by your "no disposable toilet paper" statement. Do you use cloths that you wash? Just curious.

Let's see... I refuse to buy those disposable cleaning wipes. I use cleaning cloths and a spray bottle of cleaner.

I'm pretty light with my paper towel usage, but I do use them here and there.

I rarely use disposable plates and cups for dinner parties; however, we expected more people this weekend than we had matching plates for, so I did go the easy disposable route.

Um, that's about as eco-conscious as I get.

I have to admit that most of my 'non-disposables' are about being cheap rather than eco-conscious, although there are things I won't do for eco reasons...

no disposable tampons
no paper plates/cutlery
no paper towels
no packaged food - specially that I can make myself
no brand new clothes
no plastic shiny stuff from dollar stores (I consider it disposable)
none of those "look the brush flushes right down the toilet" things
no individually packed things
no extra powders, shiners, slickers, spot removers, stain guarders, etc... (fabric softener, floor polish etc - clean is clean enough)
no disposable towellets

really, very little that I use only once or twice except for toilet paper.

I will get some of those things if I've been sick for a while, or have been exhausted.... then I rationalize with "what's my mental health worth?"..... of course... in other times in the world, people were just tired or sick and did without anyway..... :p

-babs

No disposable shampoo or conditioner bottles
No disposable tupperware or plastic bags
No disposable grocery sacks
No disposable sanitary napkins
No disposable kitchen items, napkins, plates, cutlery
No disposable cleaning wipes, paper towels, wipes

No disposable:
paper plates
napkins
paper towels
plastic silverware
plastic wrap
aluminum foil
styrofoam anything!
No disposible feminine things.

no paper napkins
no paper plates/cups
no plasticware
we do mostly dish towels but do use some papertowels

my periods are pretty much non-existant due to massive amounts of scar tissue and thus I don't use those products

we did cloth diapers with disposables at night for DD
and did washcloths for wipes with homemade solution.

And everything we are done with - clothes that no longer fit the kids, toys they've outgrown we donate.

And as soon as I can find some decently priced canvas bags, I'm switching to no disposable paper bags for grocery shopping.

Our biggest disposables - goodnites for DS, wipes for their poops - it's the only way I can get my son to wipe his own bum

I use paper towels twice
I use paper napkins judiciously
I use plastic coated paper plates but wash them in the dishwasher
I rarely used sanitary napkins
When my daughter was a baby (35 years ago) I used cloth diapers
I never used disposable wipes
I wash and re-use plastic utensils
I wash and re-use plastic baggies and aluminum foil
I cut fabric sheets in half
I cut facial cloths in fourths
I wash and re-use plastic cups

I find it easier to use disposables for backyard barbecues as my kitchen is on the first floor and I have to go through the basement to get to the backyard. Its heavy carrying my regular dinnerplates up and down the stairs and I'm always concerned about breakage of my glasses and dishes. Washing and re-using plastics solves this problem for me.

And as soon as I can find some decently priced canvas bags, I'm switching to no disposable paper bags for grocery shopping.


Ironmaiden, I have some from a coop I joined a few months back. They haven't been used. I don't remember what I paid for them, but if you come up with a good price, I'll send you some (plus shipping of course). Just let me know.

I have yet to use canvas bags. I also have the cloth mesh bags (from Eco-Bags). I'm not sure why I haven't used them. I know at one time I wanted to paint some of the canvas bags up with the cool environmental sayings or phrases, but haven't gotten around to that either. But I have heard that the cloth mesh bags hold a tremendous amount of stuff.

sugarbowlbaby - im curious....you dont use TP?

And I think the stretchy mesh bags only hold lots b/c they're stretchy and stronger then any canvas bag and they fold up so well to fit into purse if need be for future uses. Only thing I dont like about mesh bags...they cut your hands b/c the handles are so small and stringy vs non stetchy canvas bag with WIDE straps.

I use disposibles for parties - wash and reuse later if I can. If not its ok, I dont entertain often and its just a lot easier on me but I do ask that everyone hang onto their 'set' of stuff for the entire meal/event so they can reuse it the entire time :laugh: Now if that aint being cheap.....

Ok, I have to ask a question here. Where do you get non disposable feminine napkins? Or do you make your own? I have never seen them.

Quote: sugarbowlbaby - im curious....you dont use TP?

I make cloth wipes for my business and I use those. They are 8x8 2 ply flannel wipes and since I keep a diaper pail in my bathroom (for my son's cloth diapers), I just throw them in there. It really isn't as gross as it seems. I can tell you one thing, I have never had my fingers poke through my wipes (while I'm wiping) like I've done with disposable tp.:tmi: When it is time to wash diapers, everything gets dumped into the washer and I do a quick cold rinse. Than I do a presoak with cold water and baking soda (these usually soak overnight, depending on when I start the load). After those have spinned out, I wash in hot water with a very small amount of laundry detergent (to avoid detergent build up). Then I put a little vinegar in the rinse cycle. I love using cloth toilet paper. It's mostly because of my frugal nature, but it's also an environmental issue for me too.

As far as the cloth menstrual pads go, I make my own, but if you googles cloth menstrual pads or "mama pads" you would probably come up with a lot. There are so many options to choose from with cloth pads too. You can choose wings or no wings, you can choose from different fabrics that would be up against your body to help keep moisture away from your skin (fleece, organic fleece, minky). Some pads are made with hemp fleece inside which is a natural antibacterial. You can also have them made with a waterproof backing (PUL-polyuerethane laminate). Since I have a cloth diapering business, I have an automated industrial snap press. I make my pads with snaps and then I attach snaps to my "designated" underwear. I will NEVER go back to disposable napkins.

Sorry, I didn't mean to write a book here. I guess I get a little excited sometimes:hurray:!!!

Debby, I was wondering too, and figured that was about what you did.

Do you think you'll continue to use cloth TP after your children are out of diapers? It would take a lot of 8x8 sheets to make a full laundry load, KWIM?

The more I think about it, the more wasteful TP seems, especially for about 3 drops of urine. Poo carries a bit of in ick factor for me, but I think I could get over it. I would be willing to try this, but I'm certain that my dh would give birth to a porcupine - breech - if I even mentioned it to him. :laugh: He's a bit uptight about body functions.

I talked my husband into trying the cloth wipes in the bathroom and he did try it, but prefers his disposable tp. It's probably the most expensive tp on the market (which is a thorn in my side, but that is a whole nother story). Anyway, he says the 8x8 wipes aren't big enough for him. He also says that "Men have too much going on back there" to use cloth.

I will still use cloth after diapers because I have 2 little ones. My six year old uses cloth wipes and when Charlie is potty learned, he will use cloth wipes too. Even if I washed wipes every 3 days, I think it would still be cheaper to run a small load verses using disposable tp on all three of us. I do keep disposable tp in all the bathrooms for anyone who chooses to use it and for guests. I also make cloth breastpads for my business and I hired someone to cut circle shapes out of the flannel and they ended up being cut with the wrong template and were too small for breastpads so I sewed/serged two prints together and use those for pee. I can't see using a huge 8x8 square for the pee. It works out great.

This is going to sound really silly, but using less disposable items makes me feel good. Good about what I'm putting against my body, good about what I'm NOT putting in the landfill and very good about what I'm not shelling out at the grocery store or Wal-mart.

I don't think it's silly. I think it's an environmentally sound choice. But you probably realize you are in the minority. Most Americans would probably rather give up their coffee than their TP.

Me, I've never been a coffee drinker. :)

I don't think it is silly either, I think it's pretty cool. After I read your post, I realized just how many disposables I really use... it's really sad. I actually feel dependent on them all. I never thought to think about just how much I'm spending on toilet paper, feminine hygeine products, etc. I also never realized just how "attached" I am to all of this stuff. :( It is hard to imagine myself out of this routine of disposables...

I used to feel the exact same way. I thought, there is no way in H*ll I'm going to be caught having my period without something in the house. I had to actually slowly wean myself. I had some "left over" in the bathroom closet and just slowly used them while I used my cloth pads.

Now it's just such a free feeling to NOT have to go down the sanitary napkin and tampon isle, toilet paper isle (except to get dh's tp), the disposable diaper and wipe isle (unless Charlie is out of his one diaper a day!), the kitchen napkin, paper towel, paper plate or kleenex isle.

I did find one thing that I have in the house that is so totally a waist of money (in my opinion) and that is the replacement pads that go on my Clorox mop. When they are all gone I will no longer be buying those. I can find plenty of peices of fabric around here that will do just fine.

Oh, DH doesn't use coffee filters. There's a permanent filter that goes with the coffee machine.

I must say that your post had me surfing the intenet about non-disposable pads and toilet paper. I guess I have a long way to go! I am just starting to look into changing my ways and old habits. This gives me lots to think about. I never even thought of things like this. I just take for granted that I use disposable items. This is why I love this site. I am learning so much.

I'm so impressed........ you guys rock!

I'm so happy to see that I'm not the only one that re-uses & re-uses plastic plates/forks!! :rollsmile

The price of water in my county, it would cost SO much to use disposable TP. That's a lot of water.